Enhancing Not Enslaving Lives

“We bring you closer to the people and things
you love”.

Isn’t Instagram’s mission statement
impressive?

Viewed as a cute, harmless social media
application, where one can post and share pictures with the world, Instagram is
undoubtedly one of the most influential connect that has dramatically
changed the lives of many, especially teenagers. Acquired by the Facebook for
nearly $1 billion in 2012, Instagram’s top three users are the United States
(120 million) India (88 million) and Brazil (82 million).

Mike Krieger and Kevin Systrom, who created or
rather invented Instagram ten years ago, initially for iPhones and later for
Android phones, to share mobile photography, would have never even dreamt that
it would be misused by some perverted minds like what happened in Delhi
recently.

Yes,
the horrendous all-boys Instagram chat group christened “Bois Locker Room”,
created with several members, mostly teenage boys from Delhi, mainly shared
objectionable posts about minor girls. The said chat group, which has since
been deactivated after the Delhi Police busted the case on 4 May, is shameful
and ought to serve as a wake-up call to the society at large to prevent recurrence
of such incidents.

The case came out in the open on 2 May after a
student was "accidentally" added to the chat group and he witnessed a
"morphed" picture of his friend. So far names of four private
schools from South Delhi and one from Noida have been linked to the group. What
is disconcerting is that the photographs of the girls were taken without their
consent and shared amongst the groups. Obnoxious statements like “I will rape
her easily” etc., including threats to leak nude photos of girls who had busted
them went viral and as news reports indicate, there was a
massive outrage on the social media. The Instagram chat group had not only
school students but around 10 odd college students as well.

It
all happened so fast - while the Delhi Commission for Women served a notice to
Instagram, the Delhi Police apprehended a 15-year-old said to be the
administrator of the chat group and filed an FIR under IPC Sections
465 (forgery), 471 (using as genuine a forged document or electronic record),
469 (forgery for purpose of harming reputation), 509 (word, gesture or
act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) and Sections 67
(publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form) and 67A
(publishing or transmitting of material containing sexually explicit act in
electronic form) of the IT Act. Some of these offences are punishable with
imprisonment raging between three to five years and fines to the extent of Rs 5
to Rs 10 lakh.

With
the group chat incident raising issues like privacy, safety and well-being of
women including the need for sensitisation and counselling of juveniles, three
Delhi-based advocates have moved the Supreme Court to intervene and take up the
matter on the judicial side considering there might be jurisdictional challenges
in pursuing the inquiry and investigation into the offence.

Similar incidents involving minors discussing
rape/gang rape of classmates have been reported on other digital platforms
across cities. Last December, eight boys aged 13-14 years of a reputed Mumbai
school were suspended for displaying graphic sexual and violent content
including explicit comments on female classmates on WhatsApp. Reportedly the
chat transcription running over almost a hundred pages included words like
“rape” and “gangbang”. The comments were observed by a girl’s parent who
declined to go to school saying she was too scared.

Now, why all this fuss? From a college
student’s perspective, it can be argued can’t boys not have some fun as
childhood only comes once and they aren’t ever going to get these times back.
Fair enough. If many unsupervised teens are left to their own devices by
some busy parents, why just blame the boys? After all money can’t buy
everything!

When a teenager spends too much time scrolling
through social media, it can result in symptoms of anxiety, depression and a
host of other issues like hating the opposite sex. It is because he cannot
decide between right and wrong. Research has concluded that the unconscious
hatred that boys form early in life towards girls or women is often as a result
of a trauma involving a female figure they trusted. As such, an abuse or
negligent mother or sister can plant a seed deep down in their brain’s
subcortical matter. Even as the first signs of misogyny are barely noticeable,
their repeated exposure to neglect and abuse can compound the situation. As a
parent, one should not remain silent when a teen makes a sexually degrading
comment. They should not be allowed to think that it is their right to treat
women as sex objects. Instilling the value of respecting girls from a young age
can go a long way to change the abominable, unhealthy and sexist mindset.
As teenagers place a tremendous amount of trust in the people to whom
they confide their private thoughts and feelings, it is imperative that beyond
just disciplining, parents quickly must provide their children the necessary
guidance and support. In some teens, changing their behaviour may
require repeated interventions, so patience pays.

Well, many youngsters seem to draw their
primary sense of identity from social media accounts. And Instagram, for too
many young adults, is their sole, unilateral scorecard to know and feel how
important they are. Notably, the more followers and “likes” they get, the
better they feel about themselves. When teens use social media to connect and
create friendships with others, they also may confront cyberbullying, trolls,
toxic comparisons etc
. Social media
undoubtedly offers huge benefits for the community by providing access and
connection to people, services, information and opportunities that would
previously not have been possible. Unfortunately, what many youngsters fail
to appreciate is that social media occasionally may be a gateway to pornography
as well. Importantly, when teens connect with thousands of friends
through friends of friends on social media, as there is no privacy, photos can
be downloaded and used for other illegal purposes.

It needs to be appreciated that the World Wide
Web is listening every time we use it. Beware, one’s social media comments or
email records, as part of online history can potentially be seen by other
people similar to cookies left in the system when commercial websites are
visited to track one’s buying habits. Every Tweet, retweets leave a record.
Remember, when judiciously used, the social media can “enhance our
lives”.